The Need for Speed
We watch Formula 1 racing in this house every day. Breezy can accelerate from a standing grid start to zooming at top speed. She can handle her chassis under the living room cabinets and through the toy gauntlet to the rabbit room. She is obsessed with diving under the furniture, rising up at the other side for a binky then coming to an instant halt.
Then she looks around to see if we are watching. We are. It is amazing to see the speed and agility of this amazing species. Let alone an eleven-year-old girl with arthritis.
Speed is a life-saving skill if you are a prey animal like a rabbit. Shifting direction, dodging obstacles and strategizing their escape plan are the way they survive in the wild. But those instincts don’t leave them when they are domesticated and become house companions.
The Downside of the Race Track
Greyhound racing, as we know it today, began in California in 1919. People very quickly concluded that these dogs were ill-treated, at a minimum.
“Animal activists consider the (greyhound) racing industry as one of entertainment and profit of people at the expense of the animals. The industry’s surplus breeding, the often-cruel methods the dogs are destroyed, the daily conditions in which the dogs are forced to live, and the use of bait animals (although not permitted but difficult to enforce) are considered animal abuse. Profit is the bottom line…”1
Those bait animals are live rabbits.
Can we have a Cruelty-Free World?
I wish I could say that all acts of animal cruelty can be eliminated. Humans think they are the more intelligent species, but I don’t think so. If we were, we wouldn’t force another species to participate in violent acts. Animals fight or compete in nature to survive, not to make people money.
GREY2K USA , a greyhound support organization, are working to pass greyhound protection
laws, phase out dog racing and promote greyhound adoption around the world. Rabbit organizations, including the House Rabbit Society and SHRR, are lending their support to pass a federal bill to phase out commercial greyhound racing and prohibit live lure (rabbit) training, named the Greyhound Protection Act. In only a couple short months H.R. 3335 has won the support of 20 Congressional cosponsors, and the endorsement of more than 100 community leaders. The Greyhound Protection Act will finally prohibit this practice and end greyhound racing altogether which will ensure no more greyhounds and rabbits are subjected to these exploits.
The Race to Humanity
If you are a domestic rabbit owner, you surely don’t want your rabbit to be a “lure” for dogs. If you own a dog, you surely don’t want to see them abused, starved or slaughtered for lack of speed or performance.
Take a stand for humanity and support H.R. 3335.
Bri is still racing across the carpet and enjoying her natural skills. She is clearly proud of herself when she does a “Bunny 500” across the house and stops to see if we’re watching. We are so thrilled to see her active at her age and free of fear when she runs.
Go Breezy go!